This invention relates to a spool valve and piston power plant, and more particularly to a spool valve and piston power plant that converts reciprocal power from an hydraulic ram into rotary power.
There have been many types of power plants proposed using many different types of power sources. In recent years, internal combustion engines and electrical engines have been predominant due to the relative inexpense of fossil fuel to power these engines. Because fossil fuel is not inexhaustible and because environmental concerns are becoming increasingly important, alternative sources of power are needed. For example, there have been proposals to use the movement of tides and waves as a source to power engines and power plants.
Hydraulic pumps have also been known for many years. It is also conventional to use fluid pressure to control the movement of a piston back and forth in a cylinder. Fluid pressure is particularly appealing because the kinetic characteristics of fluids have been studied and analyzed quite thoroughly by engineers and the resulting effects are quite predictable. There are many neutral fluids, such as water, that can be used in an hydraulic pump without raising any environmental or safety concerns.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a power plant that is very efficient, that can be built of inexpensive materials and that can utilize as an energy source the tidal or wave movement available in large bodies of water.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize a multi-cylinder hydraulic fluid or air pressure engine that utilizes fluid pressure to move the pistons in a reciprocal movement inside a cylinder and which converts this reciprocal movement to rotary movement which turns a drive shaft to generate energy that can be used for many worthwhile purposes. It is another feature of the present invention to utilize a spool-type piston to provide two distinct chambers within the cylinder.
It is an advantage of the present invention that an efficient and inexpensive source of power can be made available using the tidal or wave movement of large bodies of water, that such source of energy is environmentally safe and that no dangerous or deleterious by-products are created.